Category Archives: Uncategorized

As of July 1, 2013 I have been transferred from the Extension Services Department to the Reference Department.

I am no longer located in the Extension Services Department on the 2nd floor. My desk is now located in the Reference Department Office on the 2nd floor of our library.

The Reference Department Office is located on the far north side of the building on the 2nd floor. It is right near the Illinois Collection area.

If you are not familiar with that office location, just walk on to the “Ask Us” desk on the 2nd floor and they will gladly point you to the Reference Office.

If you do plan to drop in and see me, make sure you head over to the Reference Department Office. Look through the glass window on the door to get someone’s attention because the door is locked. Just let them know you are here to see me and they will point you to my desk area.

Everything else remains the same.

I have the same phone number.

I have the same e-mail address.

I have the same hours.

Currently, I have been busy transitioning my materials from the one office to my present location. It has been time-consuming because the space arrangements are not the same. So I have been juggling re-arranging my materials as best as possible.

You know how it can be when you change something in your home setting. Sometimes I just don’t remember where my stuff that was located in my old setting is now residing in my new location! Oh well, old habits die hard!

Things should be running smoothly with me over the next few weeks as I get used to my new digs!

I am sure you too will be on automatic pilot if you come in to see me. You will probably also head over to the Extension Services Office. Your first clue something is different is that you will see an empty desk (at least as of now) where I used to be. If someone is in that office they can redirect you to my new location.

Even I have to be sure I do not head directly to the Extension Services Office when I arrive in the morning! Again, old habits do die hard!

So to those of you that often drop in, I will see you next time in the Reference Office.

I just received notice of an upcoming “road trip” that is being sponsored by the Computer Assisted Genealogy Group of Northern Illinois (CAGGNI).

They will be going to the famous Newberry Library in downtown Chicago on Friday, October 11, 2013. Events for the day at the library will be starting at 9 AM.

Registration is required. Registration has already opened as of June 15, 2013. I did take a look at their website and they note that 15 individuals have already registered and that there are 12 more registration slots available. You can visit the CAGGNI website directly at www.caggni.org and head over to their “CAGGNI Meetings” link on the left side. Scroll down to the October 11, 2013 entry for this program where you can actually register yourself if interested to participate.

The cost to participate will be $10 for members of the group and $15 for non-members of the group.

Here after the separator line is the text of their message that I received from them describing events of the day in Italics:

Back by popular demand, CAGGNI returns to the Newberry Library on Friday, October 11, 2013

A 45-minute orientation followed by a short tour of the library will be provided by the Curator of Genealogy and Local History at Newberry. Information on the history of the library, research procedures and genealogy resources will be included. Orientation and tour are limited to 25 attendees. Participants not attending the orientation can begin their research at 9:00 a.m.

Reader’s Card issuance. The card is required and can be obtained at the library on the day of the event. This card will allow you to use all the facilities of the library for a period of one year.

Assistance from the Curator and a reference librarian will be available to all members to assist in getting started with your individual research.

Lunch on your own – A list of local restaurants is available at the Security desk. If you wish to bring your lunch, Room 101, just off the vending machines area, has been reserved for us from Noon to 2:00 p.m. Snack and drink vending machines are also available.

Access to the new Civil War Exhibit, co-sponsored with the Terra Museum, in the first floor exhibition hall.

I believe the CAGGNI group had a successful “road trip” to the Newberry Library previously that warranted this “encore” trip back to the Newberry Library.

Mark your calendars for this upcoming event on October 11, 2013. If you have never been to the Newberry Library, perhaps this is your opportunity to visit whether you are a member of CAGGNI or not. Be with a group of fellow researchers rather than going it solo.

It is never too early to make plans for what sounds like a great trip this Fall!

Lisa Louise Cooke is a well-known personality in the genealogy world. She is a blogger, speaker, author and has her hands in many more things genealogy. I was looking at YouTube in some genealogy material and just happened to come across 2 very humorous 3 minute videos put together by Lisa.

I thought I would embed her videos directly into the post for you to view and have some good laughs. I think all genealogy researchers can relate to what Lisa is sharing!

If you are having a “bad” genealogy day, then just park your “blueness” and watch and listen to Lisa. I think your “blueness” will disappear after viewing the very short and humorous videos!

Enjoy the videos! Both videos will play automatically.

Thank you Lisa for your incredible creativity!

Here is a link to the web site for Lisa Louise Cooke’s “Genealogy Gems”. Take a look at all that she has at her site. I know you will be pretty busy just exploring her site!

I hope that many of you have viewed the recent episode on NBC’s “Who Do You think You Are?” that featured the ancestral search by Jason Sudeikis of Saturday Night Live fame.

I had to do a double-take as I was watching the show because during the show who did I see make an onscreen appearance as one of the leading genealogy experts guiding Jason Sudeikis in his ancestral quest?

None other than our speaker for our own upcoming genealogy program on July 10, 2012, Jeanne Larzalere Bloom! How do you like that for a now famous on-screen genealogy star advisor! Look for Jeanne at about the 5 minute mark of the show meeting with Jason Sudeikis at the Chicago History Museum. She also has another meeting with Jason Sudeikis later in the program.

Jeanne will be making an appearance at our own library this upcoming July 10, 2012 to present her program titled “Hiring A Professional Genealogist”.

I did mention to Jeanne that I wished I had known of her upcoming appearance on the famous show so that I could have shared it with all of you in advance of the airing. However, Jeanne did indicate that she was under the strictest of a “confidentiality agreement” with NBC and was precluded from making it known to anyone that she would be on the show. And boy did Jeanne hold fast to that agreement by not sharing she would be seen on the show.

If you missed the original airing of the show with Jeanne and Jason Sudeikis, you can always see the show online via the NBC website. You can get to this show via the following link:

I feel so honored that we will have such a TV personality as Jeanne Larzalere Bloom make a presentation at our library. Again, timing is everything to have Jeanne at our library just a couple of months after her making such a memorable appearance on “Who Do You Think You Are?

Take a look at the show if you have not already seen it or even if you have revisit it again prior to seeing Jeanne in person at our own library on Tuesday evening, July 10, 2012.

To say the least, I am shocked over just discovering the news that the popular Genealogy TV show on NBC will no longer be on the air! It is not being renewed for 2013.

I am shocked!

It seemed to me to that it began hitting its stride. I thought it was considered successful because it actually delivered more episodes in 2012 than it had previously delivered in it two previous seasons.

What follows in Italics after the separator is the text from Dick Eastman’s May 13, 2012 blog post on the comments provided by Ancestry.com upon hearing the news of the cancellation. Ancestry.com was a major advertiser on the program. Ancestry.com was emphasized throughout the show as the stars began their online search efforts using Ancestry.com.

PROVO, Utah, May 13, 2012 — Ancestry.com Inc., the world’s largest online family history resource, today commented on NBC’s decision not to renew the Who Do You Think You Are? television series for a fourth season.

“We want to thank NBC for their support of this terrific series, which over the last three years has inspired many viewers to follow their passion to learn more about who they are and where they come from,” said Tim Sullivan, President and CEO of Ancestry.com. “We have a great partnership with the show’s producers, Is or Isn’t Entertainment and Shed Media, and we look forward to exploring other avenues of distribution.”

About Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com Inc. is the world’s largest online family history resource, with 1.9 million paying subscribers. More than 10 billion records have been added to the site in the past 15 years. Ancestry users have created more than 34 million family trees containing approximately 4 billion profiles. In addition to its flagship site, Ancestry.com offers several localized Web sites designed to empower people to discover, preserve and share their family history.

So it is that all good things come to an end. It just seemed we were getting comfortable with knowing this show was going to be on Friday evenings and we had something to look forward to. Some shows were outstanding. Some shows were boring and lacked and insight into genealogical research. Maybe inconsistency was the death knell for the show. Overall, I always got something out of each show just knowing that genealogical pursuit received such visibility via an actual TV show!

There is only one more original episode scheduled to appear on Friday evening, May 18, 2012. Paula Deen will be showcased in the series finale.

It still hard for me to believe that more new episodes of “Who Do You Think You Are?” will be no more.

I just want our library users to know that you will be seeing some major construction activity taking place on the 2nd floor of our library that will occur over the next 6 months.

Our library is building a 6,000 square foot “Teen Center” on the 2nd floor in the area where our Information Desk was located and extending back into the “deep bowels” of our library building that was set up for staff offices and materials. The new location of the Information Desk is accessed on the 2nd floor by turning left from the stairwell or the elevator instead on walking straight across what used to be the open floor.

Also affected is our Magazine collection location that has been moved over to the Reference area. Our newspaper storage and microfilm storage areas out of the view of the public have also been moved. This move affects more our own internal change of where this material will be stored and accessed and not so much for you, the library customer. Requests for this kind of material will still be able to be fulfilled but our staff will just be getting to the material in different manners and different locations within our building.

Things are just going to look different on the 2nd floor. Old habits of accessing and viewing materials in locations you were familiar with will have to change during the construction period. Be patient while both you and me acclimate to the temporary changes to accommodate the construction work.

Come on in and re-familiarize yourself with the new configuration of materials on our 2nd floor.

I just wanted to share with you a link to a Daily Herald news item from yesterday, February 21, 2012.

A mini-van crashed through our front entrance of the building yesterday afternoon about 4:45 PM. Thank goodness no one was hit by the mini-van as it crashed through our front doors. The driver and passenger suffered some cuts from the broken glass.

If you are coming to our library, you will have to enter our building from the “east” side of the main entrance in the parking area.

These are the kind of stories we all have in our lives that will make for interesting reading for our descendants 100 years from now!